1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the sport of football and, in particular, to improvements to a football to provide superior throwing capabilities for all ages of participants, particularly those first learning how to throw a football who might otherwise have difficulty causing the ball to throw properly.
2. Description of Related Art
The effective throwing of a football has always been considered somewhat of an art. It is necessary that the thrower release the ball in such a manner to impart a spiraling or spinning motion to the ball. This results in the spinning of the ball as it travels through the air and causes its flight to be directionally controllable and straight. Children experience the greatest difficulty in effecting this spiral action. The most notable prior art effort to improve this performance is currently being marketed by Parker Brothers, a division of Tonka Corporation, The product is called NERF TURBO FOOTBALL, and is basically a toy football molded of soft foam with fluted ribs molded in its external surface, longitudinally from end to end. These ribs effect the aerodynamics of the ball and result in a somewhat better flight pattern, if the child can master the throw. The ribs, however make the ball look noticeably strange. Parker Brothers, along with many other toy companies, also market soft foam footballs with no surface variations. These soft foam balls are easier to throw and catch by youngsters due to their tactile feel and softness.
The employment of a cloth tail on round balls has been done in the past. Mattel Toys marketed such a product in the early 1970's, called FLYIN LION. It consisted of a circular ball with a flexible nylon or vinyl appendage that served as a decorative tail with which the ball could also be caught. U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,179, discloses tails affixed to a round, weighted ball to creating a challenging situation as the wafting tail segments pass a receiver in a relatively rapid and unpredictable flight pattern.
VELCRO has been used on balls before, but always with the intent of providing a contact surface with which the ball can adhere to a remote object covered with the corresponding VELCRO material. To our knowledge, the employment of VELCRO on two removable sections of a ball projectile to provide separation removable attachment of those sections, has never before been suggested.
Regarding balls whereon one half of the VELCRO system is employed for contact with a remote object, Lemelson U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,345 describes a target game wherein VELCRO is mounted on the surface of a projectile dart to effect its adherence to a compatibly equipped target area. Other Lemelson U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,927,881, 3,857,566 and 3,917,271 also describe the employment of VELCRO for the purposes of adhering a projectile to a target surface. Guinn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,060, also describes a target game wherein the adherence of the projectile to the target is effected by VELCRO.
VELCRO covered projectiles such as balls is a commonplace occurrence. A now defunct St. Louis manufacturer named Impulse, Ltd. recently marketed children's baseballs and gloves, footballs and gloves, and flying discs and gloves wherein the entire surface of each of the items, as well as significant areas of the gloves, were covered in the hook and loop design material commonly referred to as VELCRO to enable the users to catch the items better. It should be noted that the total intent of these items was to improve catchability. It was impossible to throw and thereby release the projectile from the gloves once it became attached, due to the inherent nature of the design. The VELCRO firmly locked the balls to every surface of the gloves.
In no prior art has it ever been disclosed to attach either a permanent, or removable, appendage to a football-shaped ball for the purpose of providing both a stabilizing function to improve directional throwing as well as to provide a grip surface for catching, holding while practicing kicking, or for grabbing by an opponent.